Described herein are fishing line accessory systems, methods, and apparatuses. More specifically, described herein are systems, methods, and apparatuses for securing strike indicators, bobbers, floats, weights, and other accessories to a fishing line.
Have you ever seen a fisherman's tackle box? There is a reason those specially designed boxes have so many compartments. Fishermen everywhere love to use, collect, buy, try, experiment with, and otherwise enjoy all sorts of accessories. In addition to the bait and hook at the end of the fishing line, there is a plethora of other accessories that fishermen interconnect (e.g. secure) to the fishing line at a point intermediately between the end of the fishing pole and the end of the fishing line. Examples of these accessories include, but are not limited to, strike indicators, bobbers, floats, and weights.
Currently, accessories suffer from one or more of the following deficiencies:                Some known accessories do not strongly (which includes securely) connect to fishing line.        If the accessories are strongly connected, they are not easily removed.        Accessories tend to damage the fishing line by bending or kinking it when they are secured to the fishing line.        Accessories easily fall off of the fishing line if they are not strongly connected.        Accessories are not easily repositioned on the line once connected.        The fishing line must pass through the body of the accessory, affecting performance of the accessory.        
In fly fishing, the kinking of the leader (the fishing line between the end of the fishing pole and the end of the fishing line—in fly fishing the leader is the thinner material that connects the main fly line to where the final/terminal tackle and bait is connected) by these accessories precludes their use in dry fly fishing and requires replacement of the leader to do so.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,850,748 to Foster, U.S. Pat. No. 2,379,676 to Blackstone, U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,513 to Dmytriw, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,832,139 to Christensen all disclose various types of systems, methods, and/or apparatuses for connecting floats to a fishing line. These patents are herein incorporated by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,513 to Dmytriw discloses a fishing float that includes a buoyant float body and a fishing line attachment member adapted to be removably coupled to the buoyant float body. The buoyant float body has an internal annular groove designed to receive an external annular rib of the attachment member. The attachment member has a slit that is dimensioned to receive and frictionally retain a fishing line. The attachment member is force-fit into a neck opening of the buoyant float body (and thereby compresses the slit so that it further grips the fishing line) until the rib snaps into the groove. The fishing line is trapped between the buoyant float body and the attachment member when they are coupled together. The attachment member is removed from the neck opening of the buoyant float body by twisting the attachment member and pulling it axially outwards.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,513 to Dmytriw also discloses an alternative fishing float that includes a buoyant float body and a fishing line attachment member adapted to be removably coupled to the buoyant float body. The buoyant float body has a flange that is formed around the outer end of the neck. The attachment member is in the form of a plastic snap-on cap with two slits on its outer peripheral wall. The slits frictionally engage a fishing line. Further, the slits are arranged so that the line is at an angled path to reduce the likelihood of the line being pulled through the cap. The fishing line is trapped between the buoyant float body and the attachment member when they are coupled together.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,233,781 to Bigelow and U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,210 to Moore both disclose floats that include a balloon and a valve. The systems disclosed by these references are complicated and expensive to produce. These patents, however, are herein incorporated by reference.